Rising singer, songwriter, and social media personality Jxdn wants to redefine what it means to be famous.
Born Jaden Hossler in Dallas, Texas, and later attending high school in Tennessee, Jxdn first rose to prominence as a teenager on TikTok in 2019.
With millions of followers on the popular video sharing platform, he moved out to Los Angeles where he joined up with the Sway House, a collective of content creators who lived together in a mansion.
Quickly racking up even more success–with over nine million followers and counting–he transitioned into music, self-releasing his first single, “Comatose,” in February 2020.
He almost immediately caught the attention of Blink 182 drummer and music icon Travis Barker, who signed him on as the first artist on his new DTA Records label.
Together they released the single “Angels & Demons,” in the summer of 2020, which went gold, earning Jxdn regular rotation on rock radio, and expanding his exposure around the world.
He credits seeing the late rapper Juice WRLD live in concert as the catalyst for his career in music, and equates that moment to a religious experience.
“If I never saw Juice, I don’t think I’d be here right now,” Jxdn said. “It’s the biggest honor. That was my first concert ever in my entire life, and I think it was with a purpose. That’s all I needed to show me what my dream and what my purpose was going to be, and what it was at that moment. I’m forever grateful to Juice WRLD and for music in general and what it does for people.”
Performing in front of a crowd of 30,000 at just his third live show ever at Lollapalooza in Chicago in 2021, Jxdn knew there was no turning back for him as there was nothing quite like live music. He’s since gone on to tour all around the world, opening up for his friend and frequent collaborator Machine Gun Kelly and others.
“I used to perform based off response – the crowd’s response – and now I think I really perform for myself, which ultimately actually creates a better response for the audience,” Jxdn said about how he’s grown as a performer. “It makes it more intimate for them, more personal. I’m always focused on the crowd, but recently I’ve been honing in on my skills – my singing, my movements, just the overall show and how I can make it better every time.”
Connecting with his fans in a very personal way, Jxdn has used his songs to discuss his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts, especially on the song, “Pray.” He’s confronted those feelings frequently in his music as a way to process emotions that are otherwise too hard to put into words.
“The hardest song to perform emotionally is definitely ‘Tell Me About Tomorrow,’ given that I wrote that song about my friend who was still struggling while he was alive,” Jxdn said. “And now that he’s passed, it seems almost impossible to perform. I don’t think I’ve performed it yet, so this tour will be a first for that. But there’s a lot of songs that I haven’t released yet that I think are going to be so impactful, because they were so important for me – they were an actual form of therapy during one of the worst years of my life, so I’m really excited to see how those connect with audiences.”
Jxdn is currently out on his own headlining tour (coming to The Intersection March 8) in support of his full-length debut album, 2021’s “Tell Me About Tomorrow.” Since the release of that record, Jxdn said he thinks he’s taken another step forward as an artist, starting with the release of his latest single “Sober,” last November.
“‘Sober’ was genuinely just the nail to the glass to break myself out of the box that I feel like I had put myself in,” Jxdn said. “I can’t say exactly where I’m headed, but I know I’m headed somewhere great and somewhere bigger than I am now. Ultimately, I hope that whatever type of music I make and whatever music I do make, it’s all centered around hope.”
Taking influence from everyone from The Strokes and The Killers, to Korn, Five Finger Death Punch, and even Justin Bieber, Jxdn wants to expand his sound as he works on his next album.
As for his start on social media, Jxdn says he has a love-hate relationship with the platforms that helped make him into an almost overnight sensation.
“I’m at the point where I’ve realized its purpose in life,” he said. “I think that it’s definitely changed and will continue to change. Do I think it’s good for people’s mental health? No. But that doesn’t mean I have to settle with that reality. I think that I have the power to influence enough to change what the apps and the Internet can mean as a whole, just like a lot of great people do. So ultimately, my journey with social media has been really crazy, but I’m not done yet, because I think it’s a great tool to reach an audience bigger than people I’ve ever reached before.”
Jxdn
I Hope This Never Ends Tour
Wsg. Beauty School Dropout
The Intersection
133 Cesar E. Chavez Ave. SW, Grand Rapids
March 8, 7 p.m.
$29 advance, $35 day of show
sectionlive.com, jxdnmusic.com
